I am naming this quilt Al Beasly's Ties. Many years ago I had a long running joke with a friend of my husband's family about making his wild ties into a quilt. After he died I got his ties and made a start, but never finished. This UFO is at least 30 years old if not older. I was doing it all in hand work, but I will never get it finished that way.

 I got this row done in quilt-as-you-go fashion but I don't like doing it that way. I did a lot of hand embroidery on it so I am going to bind this finished row and make it into a table/bed runner. I have 30 blocks that I am putting into a top and will machine quilt that.

 I also have four blocks hand quilted and hand embroidered that I will turn into pillows because I just don't want to have to try to work them into rows. It's time this project was ! I could still do the hand work, I just want to focus on other things now and I don't want it sitting around any more gathering dust.

This is the first ply of my latest spin wound into a center pull ball ready to ply. I am afraid the picture doesn't do the colors justice. Tomorrow I will start the second spin. I am trying to do what is called a "fractal" spin but I think that I don't have enough different colors.

"A fractal is a pattern that repeats no matter how far you zoom in or zoom out. Its a pattern within a pattern. The Fractal Foundation has this neat little gif that sums it all up. But don’t look for too long."

This is a quotefrom Roving Crafters which gives a far better explanation than I ever could, but I don't think it will work so well when the colors are as similar as mine. It's very interesting and I thank them. It's fun trying though. When the remodel down here is finished I will have a place to do my dyeing and I will try hand painting a roving to try it on.

So now I am pretty well up to date on what is going on. I don't seem to have much energy right now and I am not getting a lot done and I don't seem to feel like doing much. I hope it's not the winter doldrums setting in early.

David went to the doctor this morning and she said that they will have to wait until it happens again before they can do anything more permanent. Can't wait, oh boy, the things we have to look forward too!

I have not been having a lot of time these last few days to get much done. A couple of Dear Jane blocks, but I am out of ink in the printer to print off the next paper piecing blocks so that will have to wait until payday.

 E-7 Bread Basket, for some reason the top left corner looks off in the picture, but it isn't, go figure.

E-8 Mama's Maze

E-9 Quilt Jail

So, yesterday, I was down here in the basement almost ready to go to meeting when Ambrosina comes running down and tells me dad is up in the bathroom and he needs me. Well, for her to do that means that it is something big so I go dashing up the two flights of stairs and there he is in the bathroom with his ankle spurting blood. I've never seen that much blood and that includes when Matthew cut his foot open with an axe. It looks like there has been an axe murder. I put pressure on his ankle and Ambrosia called 911 because it wasn't letting up.
Turns out he scratched his ankle and he has varicose veins one of which ruptured, this was a ten inch long steady stream under pressure, of course, so they got the bleeding under control and we went to the e-room. This is not all that uncommon in men his age and it is just one more of those ageing things we have to deal with.

The doctor said he is not surprised we came in and told me how to deal with it in the future, because if it happened once it is likely to happen again. Does add a bit of excitement to the afternoon. We are going to have to put him in compression socks. He goes to the doctor on Wednesday to check that all is ok and we are going to see if there is a long-term solution to the problem. He is fine although very tired from work on the basement and he took yesterday (naturally) and today off and is planning to start framing the walls tomorrow. We'll see.

Leon is going to take next week off because they didn't get as much done as they had hoped, which is never a surprise.

The new, bigger hot water heater is in, in it's new place and the sub-floor with rigid foam insulation under it is done. already I can feel a slight difference in the temperature down here. David loves doing framing he says he could do it in his sleep and they don't anticipate that taking long.

While I am waiting to get ink for my printer I dug out another UFO. This one is so old it wasn't even

in the UFO tub. A crazy quilt made of neckties. I squared up the blocks ready to join this morning. Some of the fabric is very beautiful, but made very ugly ties. More on this in a future post. I am running short of time and have a few more things I need to get done this afternoon. Hopefully I will have some time tomorrow to go into the history of some of the ties, and the plan I have for these blocks.

So until then...

Finished this morning. I named it "Ribbon Candy" because when I showed Ambrosina the top she said it looked like a bag of ribbon candy. This is a totally scrappy quilt and I think that some of the blocks lack definition, there is not enough contrast. It took me forever to quilt because of constant thread breakage. It is done though and I am glad!

This is the back. I tried to echo the ribbon candy effect in some of the borders by doing a back and forth pattern across them. I really like how the quilting looks. I don't usually do backs all one color because I don't often have enough of any one fabric, but I got a big roll of drapery fabric at a thrift shop. I hope to do it this way more often but we will have to see how the finances work.

In another finish this week, these gloves. I have never knit gloves before. I found they were fast and easy. They look better on than they do here where they are blocked and on a towel. When they are dry I am going to add some "bling" by embroidering some beads and sequins on the back. They are for a bridal gift for a winter wedding, for someone who likes bling. Ambrosina is doing the wedding gown so I know what the bride likes.

 So here we are on the basement project. The drains passed inspection this morning and they are framing the floor. The new, bigger hot water heater is going in this afternoon and they are trying to get that done as well as the floor framing so they can be inspected before the weekend. Our room down here is filthy from all the dust they have created, but once the floor is done I can get some of the worst dirt cleaned up. This is not a complaint, I am so happy to have a bathroom down here I would dance if I could do the moves!

Nearly ready to start work. Almost everything is moved out. The loom is going to be covered in plastic, I wouldn't risk it out under the porch. It has been a lot of work to get it to this point and I haven't had time to do much else.

This isn't going to get any better until the other side is done. I have put everything away that can be put away but there is a lot of stuff there from the other side that I will want handy while they are working over there. I guess as long as we can get through to the stairs we will be all right.

This is my next spin, it's going to be a long one because I am spinning lace weight. Or trying to, I think it would be better on the small wheel but it has now been put in storage until the other side is done so I am making do with the bigger wheel. I am trying a new technique and it is taking a bit of effort, but worth it as it will improve my skills. I love the colors in this roving, which I purchased because I fell in love with the colors.

I have been quilting a little every day but not a lot. Only about an hour or so a day, I've been so busy elsewhere. Still having trouble with the thread breaking so it's very slow. Maybe that accounts for my lack of enthusiasm.

We had snow yesterday and it's cold. Sigh.

I finished this scarf yesterday, it's knitted in a technique called entrelac, one of my favorite styles of knitting.

So I have had a very busy week, I won't be able to do much more down here in the basement, at least until it's time to do the finishing so maybe I'll get back into a routine again. It will be so lovely to have the whole basement heated so I can use it. And no more dirt the way it has been. Also no more trudging up and down the stairs for the bathroom. I am so looking forward to having it done, I can hardly wait!

I know I promised these yesterday, but I was so tired, as well as busy that I ran out of time. I am mostly packed up with the other side but it all has to be moved out under the back porch and covered against the weather. I have about two weeks to get done so I am doing pretty well.

 E-2 Merry May

 E-4 Buffalo Tree Hopper

 E-3 Paddle Wheel

 E-1 Aunt Essie's Phlox

 E-5 Rising Sun

E-6 Michelle's Medly

I haven't been doing a lot of sewing. I have been cleaning and sorting down here. That will be done in another week and then I can back into my regular routine. If I didn't have a definite goal in view I don't think I could keep at it so hard, my back and legs are killing me! It will be worth the work. I can't wait!

I have had such exciting news! I have been so rushed I haven't had time to catch up with myself. Ambrosina and Leon have decided to finish off the rest of the basement! Originally it was just to do one corner so Anthony could have a room down here and Phillip could have a room of his own upstairs. So I had a few things to rearrange and go through. I could do that.

I had already decided to clean and rearrange our little sitting room so it went hand in hand with that which I had already started. These are the in the middle pictures because I forgot to take a before picture.

Then they decided to do the rest of the basement too. I was thrilled, but that meant packing everything up and that was what I was doing when the news came down that we are also getting a  BATHROOM and LAUNDRY room. I am ecstatic. But, they are going to do it this month and I have a long way to go. I have been throwing away a lot of stuff. It's not even good enough to go to Goodwill. I don't know why I keep so much junk!

This is the way it looks now. Everyone who has ever done this sort of think knows that it always looks really bad right in the middle of a major overhaul and clean up so I am not disheartened. I am making a lot of progress, but it's making me exhausted.

Just think, no more up two flights of stairs to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Life will be a lot easier!

I finished David's sweater vest. It needs to be blocked. It's a little big, I didn't have a pattern and I think I measured wrong. I think it will be all right

Hat to match which fits perfectly. It was a new technique for me and it's not perfect. I didn't have a pattern for that either but hats aren't difficult. I have started a scarf to match too which won't take long and then he will be as ready as possible for winter, which is supposed to start tomorrow.

So since this is getting pretty long I will have updates on Dear Jane tomorrow. I am really tired from all the extra activity but I am very happy with what I have been getting done so far.